<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>make a home by n7punk</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28343616">make a home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/n7punk/pseuds/n7punk'>n7punk</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Outside of the War - She-ra canon stories [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:56:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,139</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28343616</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/n7punk/pseuds/n7punk</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a few months after the war when they find the nest, hidden in a long-abandoned observatory in one of the castle’s towers. If Micah had not decided he wanted his old observatory back, they never would have found it.<br/>They finally learn where Melog goes when they are alone. Catra knew, but she wasn’t telling.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Outside of the War - She-ra canon stories [24]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793227</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>344</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>make a home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have a Lot of Thoughts on Melog okay. I love them and I wanted to explore them as their own character separate from Catra.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The room has been forgotten for a long time. No one has come in an age, or at least many years. The space used to buzz with magic, twinkle from the light of the stars, night air filling it as it poured in through the massive observation window.</p><p>Now the window is fogged over with dust, the ground like powdered snow beneath the soft footfalls of pads. This space is forgotten, like Crytis was, like <em>they</em> were, but it is still home to magic, and it was home to love once. It was beloved by its caretaker, and though they disappeared long ago, Melog can make it a home again.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>When they are together, sometimes Catra feels like she is hyperaware of herself. She pets along Melog’s ears and she might not feel her own touch, but she feels the spreading warmth and happiness it elicits within her partner, and that is close enough. Their minds are in sync, so their bodies are as well.</p><p>Melog is still their own person – creature, whatever. They still have wants separate from Catra – albeit, rarely – and they even need time alone sometimes. They were alone for so long, after all. Catra needs time alone too, or time just with Adora, so it works out for both of them. Melog goes wandering the castle, or curling up in a forgotten corner, and she gets to relax into Adora’s touch.</p><p>She isn’t sure when she first becomes aware of the hideaway Melog has been building. It is just one of their finds, a place they like to slip away to. Soon they begin bringing things to the dark room. One day, when she and Adora are laying in bed together and Adora’s hands begin to wander, Catra snags a pillow from the side of the bed and holds it out. Melog takes it in their mouth and pads from the room with it to add it to their steadily-improving den.</p><p>She didn’t know what she was <em>starting</em>.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>Melog nudges up into her hand. Adora blinks down at them, surprised to see the cat so far from Catra. Not that Melog doesn’t roam independently of Catra, but they don’t usually stay behind at the castle while Catra is in the Fright Zone, working on her reconstruction project.</p><p>“Does Catra know you’re here, buddy?” Adora asks, scratching behind their ears. Melog blinks at her, slow and affirmative, apparently content to receiving their scritches. Adora casts her gaze around the bedroom. She was only returning for a moment to change her pants after she got mud on them. She has a meeting with some representatives in half an hour, but she isn’t sure if Melog is okay or just needs some time alone.</p><p>She pauses, thinking over what she can do to comfort them, just in case. Her gaze darts over the room and lands on their bed. It sparks a memory in the back of her head and she crosses the room to the closet, digging around until she finds the folded blanket she is seeking and then returning to Melog by the door. She offers them a smile and holds out the blanket.</p><p>“I know you like soft things. I used to use this on nights when it got especially cold, but now I have you and Catra I don’t need it anymore. You can have it,” she tells them. Melog blinks at her and then mews happily, reaching out to take the blanket from her. She lets go of it and they immediately turn and bound out the doorway, going <em>somewhere</em> with it. She isn’t sure what Melog does with the pillows Catra gives them, but she has seen her do it twice now. Both times, Adora had <em>other</em> priorities than asking about it, but apparently blankets work fine as bribes as well.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>Melog wants to show her their nest. Their <em>collection</em>.</p><p>“Where did you get a collection from?” she asks, and is greeted with memory after memory of Adora, Glimmer, Bow, even <em>Sea Hawk</em> gifting Melog pillows, blankets, or merely soft clothes. Of <em>course</em> idiot Adora saw Catra giving Melog materials to build their nest and thought they were like a magpie for soft things. Melog is very pleased with themself for tricking Catra’s friends and for the nest they have managed to build. Catra rolls her eyes as she climbs the stairs behind Melog.</p><p>“It doesn’t count as tricking someone when they start out that dumb to begin with,” she tells them, but she ruffles their ears. The climb is steep, up a spiral staircase in one of Bright Moon’s spiraling towers, but it is worth it in the end. Catra draws in a breath as she stares around the space Melog has created.</p><p>It is an old observatory. The windows still have some streaks of dust on them, as do the walls and floor here and there, but Catra can clean that up for them. Pillows, blankets, rugs, scarves, even spare strips of fabric and a roll of bandages decorate the floor, piling up around the walls. There are a few pillowed up spots and a proper nest in one corner of the round room. Some of the floor has been kept clear, and a stolen kickball and round sphere linger there, evidence of Melog’s play.</p><p>Magic sparkles suspend themselves in the air, like the magic pollen that made her sneeze back on Crytis. A number of illusionary lanterns hang from the ceiling – through Melog, Catra can feel the spell suspending them. Catra turns slowly, taking the room in, before she turns to look down at Melog.</p><p>“Alright, what parts did you need my help with?”</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>Micah is surprised as he climbs the steps up to his old observatory to find the stairs well maintained. His old lab was sealed off by Angella after his disappearance, and he assumed his observatory would be the same, but apparently the castle staff have kept up with its maintenance – or at least its dusting.</p><p>At least that is what he <em>assumes</em> until he approaches the top of the steps and sees the light. He emerges into a glittering room, laden with materials. Pillows and blankets are everywhere, fabric and drapings hanging down the walls and from the ceiling, turning it into a giant den of softness. A few magic crystal lamps hang from the ceiling, along with a few illusionary ones, and magic light orbs float around the room.</p><p>The magic feels distinct, foreign, not the signature of anyone he knows. The room is immaculate, completely free of dust. The room must be visited and refreshed often, but this is not Glimmer’s magic. He pokes around the room – partially for clues, and partially to see if any of his old equipment is here, which it isn’t – before he notices the <em>fur</em> on the blankets and smiles to himself, straightening.</p><p>Well, if the kids want to have this room to themselves, he can always find himself another tower. This one had a few too many memories of Angella anyway.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>“Catra, may I have a moment?” Micah asks her one afternoon, approaching her in the garden. Catra is taking a break, breathing in the air and grounding herself, but she turns to the former king and tilts her head. Micah is nice, to her and everyone else, and despite feeling unsure around him, he has been more than accepting of her.</p><p>“I went to visit my old observatory and noticed it has been repurposed,” Micah tells her, and Catra’s fur instantly bristles, Melog’s mane spiking at her side as they growl lowly. For once, the response originates more in Melog than it does within Catra. To her surprise, Micah’s expression merely softens.</p><p>“You may keep it, of course. A lot of work has clearly gone into it, and there are plenty of other rooms in the castle. I just wanted to be sure it was yours before I left it,” he tells her, gently. Catra releases a breath, and Melog’s mane instantly soothes to a pale blue. Catra glances down at them, making eye contact with them and passing a thread back and forth.</p><p>“It is Melog’s den. Even I don’t go there unless they ask me to. It is the one place they have that is completely <em>theirs</em>,” Catra tells Micah, looking back to him and hoping he will understand how important that is. Melog having their own space is important to them both. Micah just nods sagely, offering her a smile that crinkles up the corners of his eyes.</p><p>“I will leave the space be. They have brought so much life to it already. I am pleased to see what they did with my old observatory,” he promises her. By her side, Melog preens.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>“Stop giving Melog soft shit, they have enough,” Catra tells Adora when she notices the pillow tucked under their bed. Adora blinks up at her, shifting guiltily on the bed.</p><p>“Oops?” she tries. Catra narrows her eyes at her. It isn’t even a <em>defence</em>.</p><p>“And that goes for the rest of the Alliance. They’re running out of room to put it,” Catra tells her, scoffing and rolling her eyes. Adora’s guilty expression abates. Until Catra said it, she was definitely intending to stop personally but not out the others. Catra rolls her eyes. “Psychic bond?” she reminds as she pulls the pillow out from beneath the bedframe and tosses it onto the bed.</p><p>“I <em>know</em>, I just- it seemed like something they liked! They were always happy to take it,” Adora defends, reaching for her gladly as Catra climbs into the bed with her and kicks the pillow out of the way. She narrows her eyes down at her girlfriend.</p><p>“They <em>were</em> happy to take it, but they’ve finished building, and I can’t find anywhere else to hang things now,” she tells Adora, dropping her head onto her chest and nuzzling in until she is properly pillowed and comfortable. Adora drops a hand into her hair, scratching behind her ears and stroking along their length carefully.</p><p>“What were they doing with it all anyway?” she asks.</p><p> </p><p>--</p><p> </p><p>Adora looks up from where she is sketching soft lines in her notebook. Catra raises an eyebrow at her as she emerges from the spiral staircase into the tower, looking fond and amused as she crosses the room to flop down beside Adora on the pile of softness that Melog had directed her to.</p><p>“How did you know I would be up here?” Adora asks, already shifting to loop her left arm around her girlfriend and press a kiss into her hair. Catra and Melog both chuff.</p><p>“Melog told me, duh,” she points out as she shifts to flop on her side, resting her head on Adora’s shoulder and curling into her. “They thought you would have a better view for making star charts up here,” Catra informs her, nuzzling in and marking her shoulder as she does so. Catra is already beginning to purr, apparently content to cuddle and be held in Melog’s little nest.</p><p>“They were right. The view of the stars from here is incredible,” Adora tells her, gesturing to the large window they are laying before. Catra just rumbles happily, a small smile on her face as her eyes drift closed. Apparently cuddles were all she needed. “Are you going to fall asleep up here?” Adora questions, incredulous. Yes, it is night, but it also is not <em>late</em>, and to her knowledge Melog likes to keep this space private. Catra told her she has only been inside a few times herself. Adora was shocked when she asked Melog where her sketchbook was and they led her here.</p><p>“Melog doesn’t mind. Family is allowed in the den when they invite it,” Catra mumbles, rubbing her cheek a little against Adora’s shoulder again before going limp. Her purr is already starting to transition into the gentle rumble of sleep. Adora rolls her eyes, but she can’t hide the fond smile on her face and doesn’t <em>have</em> to when it is just the three of them.</p><p>Adora toes off her shoes, tugging one of the blankets from the side of the pile over them to wrap Catra in while keeping her side as still as possible so as to not disturb her. She rearranges her sketchpad in her lap and returns to sketching the lines between the points of the constellations. She is not properly measuring distances right now, but it is only practice, and her tools are down in their room.</p><p>They are not returning there tonight. Melog lays at their feet, and Catra is curled into her side. It would be a crime to wake two sleeping cats. Eventually, Adora sets aside her sketchbook and curls into Catra as well, burrowing down into Melog’s nest with her heart filled with warmth.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>